Yeah wabbajack is awesome and generally pretty simple to use.
With the caveat that you're willing to drop $5 on a month of nexus mods subscription. If you're not subscribed you have to click through the installer for each mod, potentially hundreds of times. But if you're subscribed it does it all at once with one button press.
Am I correct in understanding that installing a modlist through Wabbajack is vastly simpler?
I ended up most interested in two projects: Lost Legacy and Wildlander. Judging from the flowchart Lost Legacy is based upon Legacy of the Dragonborn, and Wildlander upon Requiem. Both seem to have simplified installs.
It still goes through Nexus though, so I suggest you buy a month of Nexus subscription so that it does everything automatically and you won't have to click through 1,000 mod download prompts.
Requiem and LOTD are pretty different from one another in what they aim for.
Legacy of the Dragonborn is basically catnip for people who like to 100% games - it adds a museum which has dedicated displays for unique items all over the game, and adds additional items and hides them around (and has plugins for OTHER mods which gives displays for THOSE, as well, which most modlists will include a number of).
Requiem is more roleplaying oriented (so you're less likely to do everything in one playthrough as opposed to playing a specific character). I've never played with Requiem so I can't speak to it, but I know some folks who like it - you can get an overview of it here:
The main reason those are branches is because, by the nature of the two mods, they tend to force you to build modlists "around" them. Once Extended Cut is released that'll be another hard "this won't work with other stuff."
Thank you for the modlist guidance everyone. I ended up going with Lost Legacy. Subbed and immediately cancelled my nexus premium to speed it up. Installation was shockingly easy. I think the tough part now is figuring out what I have and what needs to be configured, what can be configured, and what can't be changed.
Did an alternate start as an apprentice of the college of Winterhold. The only problem with that start is once the game is de-leveled, Winterhold seems like a pretty high level area. Really haven't found a lot of low-level areas either. But the Legacy of the Dragonborn does require or strongly encourage you to be the Dragonborn, so I went and did the main quest start. I'm up to the dragon attack near Whiterun and it's kicking my ass, so I have to go do something else for a while.
I appreciate the expanded spells, though there are a lot of goofy Restoration ones that don't seem at all useful. Some great Alteration ones though, and the Alteration perks seem sick. Auto-casting your best armor spell, one that makes all casting Vancian. Conjuration has a 'soul cloak' spell that just makes it so every enemy in a certain radius is automatically soul trapped. I also saw another spell at Winterhold that is basically permanent Contingency: you hold it in your right hand, and when you cast it it stores whatever is in your left hand, up to three spells. Then it auto casts those at the beginning of combat. Lots of possibilities there, including some spellsword shit. I haven't seen a whole lot of the cooler destruction spells yet, but I do have a nice long range fire spell.
Nice! Yeah Wabbajack is amazing. The only problem is that it works with every Bethesda game and it's hard not to be like "welp I have this Nexus subscription for a month, time to get 800 mods for New Vegas, Fallout 3, Fallout 4, and hey why not Morrowind too"
And then get distracted. You're currently making me want to go back to my Skyrim Wabbajack install while I attempt to stay strong and play my Fallout 4 Wabbajack install instead
I went with Librum for my Skyrim mega modpack, and had a blast with it before getting distracted with other things. It has a ton of stuff in there, but one of the mods it's built around forces you to manually research spells to use magic, and it's crack for my wizard playthrough. Running around breaking down magical items and reagents and slamming their distilled essences together to see what spells you wind up with is super fun, and leads to using all sorts of weird and wonderful spells I probably never would use otherwise (heavily aided by a ton of compatibility patches to get it running with like 8 different spell overhauls and packs).
I finally got into the museum proper for Legacy of the Dragonborn. I think...this might be too much for me. I wanted to play for another 50 hours, not 1000.
I finally got into the museum proper for Legacy of the Dragonborn. I think...this might be too much for me. I wanted to play for another 50 hours, not 1000.
Nice! Yeah Wabbajack is amazing. The only problem is that it works with every Bethesda game and it's hard not to be like "welp I have this Nexus subscription for a month, time to get 800 mods for New Vegas, Fallout 3, Fallout 4, and hey why not Morrowind too)
Do they still offer lifetime memberships, or did those get retired? Because man, I don't regret having one.
I finally got into the museum proper for Legacy of the Dragonborn. I think...this might be too much for me. I wanted to play for another 50 hours, not 1000.
Nice! Yeah Wabbajack is amazing. The only problem is that it works with every Bethesda game and it's hard not to be like "welp I have this Nexus subscription for a month, time to get 800 mods for New Vegas, Fallout 3, Fallout 4, and hey why not Morrowind too)
Do they still offer lifetime memberships, or did those get retired? Because man, I don't regret having one.
You monster.
Actually loading up New Vegas and modding it isn't a bad idea, I never played those DLCs...
Considering getting the AE upgrade to be compatible with the modpacks that require it. If I upgrade and install, do I stay compatible with the SE modlists?
I finally got into the museum proper for Legacy of the Dragonborn. I think...this might be too much for me. I wanted to play for another 50 hours, not 1000.
Nice! Yeah Wabbajack is amazing. The only problem is that it works with every Bethesda game and it's hard not to be like "welp I have this Nexus subscription for a month, time to get 800 mods for New Vegas, Fallout 3, Fallout 4, and hey why not Morrowind too)
Do they still offer lifetime memberships, or did those get retired? Because man, I don't regret having one.
You monster.
Actually loading up New Vegas and modding it isn't a bad idea, I never played those DLCs...
Considering getting the AE upgrade to be compatible with the modpacks that require it. If I upgrade and install, do I stay compatible with the SE modlists?
Hey if you want to go down that rabbit hole, I've really enjoyed the Capital Punishment wabbajack pack for New Vegas. It's built on Tale of Two Wastelands (which shoves Fallout 3 into New Vegas and lets you do both), so you do need Fallout 3 as well.
I finally got into the museum proper for Legacy of the Dragonborn. I think...this might be too much for me. I wanted to play for another 50 hours, not 1000.
Nice! Yeah Wabbajack is amazing. The only problem is that it works with every Bethesda game and it's hard not to be like "welp I have this Nexus subscription for a month, time to get 800 mods for New Vegas, Fallout 3, Fallout 4, and hey why not Morrowind too)
Do they still offer lifetime memberships, or did those get retired? Because man, I don't regret having one.
You monster.
Actually loading up New Vegas and modding it isn't a bad idea, I never played those DLCs...
Considering getting the AE upgrade to be compatible with the modpacks that require it. If I upgrade and install, do I stay compatible with the SE modlists?
Most SE modlists will have an appropriate downgrade mod either included or specified in the installation instructions.
Well I nuked that install and am now trying Nordic Souls. I just know that trying to fill that museum was either going to take hundreds of hours or drive me crazy because it's unfinished. Nordic Souls seems less built around a single thing. I'm already missing a few small things though. Like Lost Legacy had crazier perks that auto-cast mage armor spells and made potions last 10x longer if you drank them right after using an alchemy bench. It makes me want to tweak but Wabbajack files are SO easy that I'm not too tempted.
Well I nuked that install and am now trying Nordic Souls. I just know that trying to fill that museum was either going to take hundreds of hours or drive me crazy because it's unfinished. Nordic Souls seems less built around a single thing. I'm already missing a few small things though. Like Lost Legacy had crazier perks that auto-cast mage armor spells and made potions last 10x longer if you drank them right after using an alchemy bench. It makes me want to tweak but Wabbajack files are SO easy that I'm not too tempted.
You can still get away with tweaking wabbjack packs, but you have to kind of know what you're doing and be a bit delicate.
I've definitely added/disabled mods to packs that are pretty rigid in their structure. I like the surival-ey vibes of the three packs I'm using (Capital Punishment for NV, Librum for Skyrim, Life in the Ruins for FO4), but they typically include a few annoying things that go a bit too hardcore for my liking. Mod Organizer is good about flagging dependencies and things so you can at least see if you're about to tumble a house of cards when disabling something, and they typically include TESEdit in the launcher to let you carve out little bits of individual mods if you're into that.
There are some that will cause the whole affair to come tumbling down for sure though.
Sorry for the short notice, but quick PSA: Skyrim update tomorrow. From the sounds of things it will involve a version change, but they've been actively working with the SKSE team so it might Just Work™ without breaking stuff. We'll see.
Creation Kit is also getting an update, which might be interesting to see.
There were rumours going around for a while about paid mods again which I'm not against in principle but they really fucked it up last time and it caused so much drama.
Lots of fixes, actually, but most noteworthy is that they fixed the esl record limit so the number of references in esls goes from 2048 to 4096. A LOT of mods just became esl-able. This is PROBABLY going to kill 1.5.97 support, finally, and put everything back onto the latest version because this is a game changer.
Paid mods are back, though. It's not universal so it's not going to be a crazy free for all of stealing shit, you have to be "verified". So that's what we're going to be hearing about constantly.
Lots of fixes, actually, but most noteworthy is that they fixed the esl record limit so the number of references in esls goes from 2048 to 4096. A LOT of mods just became esl-able. This is PROBABLY going to kill 1.5.97 support, finally, and put everything back onto the latest version because this is a game changer.
Paid mods are back, though. It's not universal so it's not going to be a crazy free for all of stealing shit, you have to be "verified". So that's what we're going to be hearing about constantly.
"Agreed" in the sense that this is informative, thanks.
I was quite surprised by this as well. Then again, I wasn't aware that "paid mods"--i.e. paid content on the Bethesda Mod Store--had actually gone away (since said mod store hadn't). I'm still locked from the last update (up until yesterday, it was probably safe for me to update everything and fix compatibility), and I already made the switch to Open Animation Replacer rather than updating DAR just because it does appear to be completely backwards compatible. So technically, I'm still on the version from before September of last year (1.6.3?). I was actually entertaining the thought of updating when I had free time over the Winter Holiday but...I suppose now it's waiting game time again.
In the meantime, Steam is freaking out about it. This is an argument in favor of the GOG version I suppose, if I actually had to run SSE through the Steam client, I'd be fucked.
One amazing thing that came out of the most recent update - someone figuring out how to backport the full esl range support to earlier executables allowed them to add esl support to VR.
Just spent 2 hours trying to find a conflict between USSEP and two mods. Turns out I accidently downloaded the latest version instead of one for 1.6.640.
Hoping that's the last issue with rebuilding a mod list after accidently deleting everything so I can actually play and try out Fuse's free armor sets from patreon. They look good especially the Highlander and Sona sets.
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Fleebhas all of the fleeb juiceRegistered Userregular
edited April 11
Hey folks! Looking for a suggestion! Or at least I want to kick this idea around a little. I wanna play a Thalmor. I know, I know, "who'd want to play as an elven nazi" but I've been playing Skyrim for like, 13 years now and I've tried pretty much every other character permutation except for a Falmer. Don't judge me.
So, I've got a couple mods that add Thalmor content, the biggest one being The Second Great War which causes a Thalmor invasion after the civil war questline is done. I intend to join the Thalmor side in that.
SO my question to you all is... what vanilla faction would make the most sense for a Thalmor agent to join? I know it's established lore that the Thalmor want the Stormcloaks to win the civil war, so it seems to me that I should join them and then stab them in the back, but that just doesn't feel right. The Stormcloaks would (in my mind anyway, I know in the game any race can join) never allow an elf into a position of power in their ranks while the Empire would. Despite this I am somewhat leaning towards joining the Stormcloaks. I'm probably just dumb and overthinking Anyone have thoughts on this? Or mod suggestions!
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With the caveat that you're willing to drop $5 on a month of nexus mods subscription. If you're not subscribed you have to click through the installer for each mod, potentially hundreds of times. But if you're subscribed it does it all at once with one button press.
It still goes through Nexus though, so I suggest you buy a month of Nexus subscription so that it does everything automatically and you won't have to click through 1,000 mod download prompts.
Legacy of the Dragonborn is basically catnip for people who like to 100% games - it adds a museum which has dedicated displays for unique items all over the game, and adds additional items and hides them around (and has plugins for OTHER mods which gives displays for THOSE, as well, which most modlists will include a number of).
Requiem is more roleplaying oriented (so you're less likely to do everything in one playthrough as opposed to playing a specific character). I've never played with Requiem so I can't speak to it, but I know some folks who like it - you can get an overview of it here:
The main reason those are branches is because, by the nature of the two mods, they tend to force you to build modlists "around" them. Once Extended Cut is released that'll be another hard "this won't work with other stuff."
Did an alternate start as an apprentice of the college of Winterhold. The only problem with that start is once the game is de-leveled, Winterhold seems like a pretty high level area. Really haven't found a lot of low-level areas either. But the Legacy of the Dragonborn does require or strongly encourage you to be the Dragonborn, so I went and did the main quest start. I'm up to the dragon attack near Whiterun and it's kicking my ass, so I have to go do something else for a while.
I appreciate the expanded spells, though there are a lot of goofy Restoration ones that don't seem at all useful. Some great Alteration ones though, and the Alteration perks seem sick. Auto-casting your best armor spell, one that makes all casting Vancian. Conjuration has a 'soul cloak' spell that just makes it so every enemy in a certain radius is automatically soul trapped. I also saw another spell at Winterhold that is basically permanent Contingency: you hold it in your right hand, and when you cast it it stores whatever is in your left hand, up to three spells. Then it auto casts those at the beginning of combat. Lots of possibilities there, including some spellsword shit. I haven't seen a whole lot of the cooler destruction spells yet, but I do have a nice long range fire spell.
And then get distracted. You're currently making me want to go back to my Skyrim Wabbajack install while I attempt to stay strong and play my Fallout 4 Wabbajack install instead
I went with Librum for my Skyrim mega modpack, and had a blast with it before getting distracted with other things. It has a ton of stuff in there, but one of the mods it's built around forces you to manually research spells to use magic, and it's crack for my wizard playthrough. Running around breaking down magical items and reagents and slamming their distilled essences together to see what spells you wind up with is super fun, and leads to using all sorts of weird and wonderful spells I probably never would use otherwise (heavily aided by a ton of compatibility patches to get it running with like 8 different spell overhauls and packs).
Pfff. 1000? Child's play.
Need to install my mod: https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrimspecialedition/mods/65201
Do they still offer lifetime memberships, or did those get retired? Because man, I don't regret having one.
You monster.
Actually loading up New Vegas and modding it isn't a bad idea, I never played those DLCs...
Considering getting the AE upgrade to be compatible with the modpacks that require it. If I upgrade and install, do I stay compatible with the SE modlists?
Hey if you want to go down that rabbit hole, I've really enjoyed the Capital Punishment wabbajack pack for New Vegas. It's built on Tale of Two Wastelands (which shoves Fallout 3 into New Vegas and lets you do both), so you do need Fallout 3 as well.
Most SE modlists will have an appropriate downgrade mod either included or specified in the installation instructions.
You can still get away with tweaking wabbjack packs, but you have to kind of know what you're doing and be a bit delicate.
I've definitely added/disabled mods to packs that are pretty rigid in their structure. I like the surival-ey vibes of the three packs I'm using (Capital Punishment for NV, Librum for Skyrim, Life in the Ruins for FO4), but they typically include a few annoying things that go a bit too hardcore for my liking. Mod Organizer is good about flagging dependencies and things so you can at least see if you're about to tumble a house of cards when disabling something, and they typically include TESEdit in the launcher to let you carve out little bits of individual mods if you're into that.
There are some that will cause the whole affair to come tumbling down for sure though.
Creation Kit is also getting an update, which might be interesting to see.
https://discord.com/channels/784542837596225567/844670931539591185/1181418400594010173
There were rumours going around for a while about paid mods again which I'm not against in principle but they really fucked it up last time and it caused so much drama.
Patch notes.
Lots of fixes, actually, but most noteworthy is that they fixed the esl record limit so the number of references in esls goes from 2048 to 4096. A LOT of mods just became esl-able. This is PROBABLY going to kill 1.5.97 support, finally, and put everything back onto the latest version because this is a game changer.
https://bethesda.net/en/article/52xMsb1fD2nTiNBkiWCbxq/build-share-and-find-creations-skyrim-special-edition
Paid mods are back, though. It's not universal so it's not going to be a crazy free for all of stealing shit, you have to be "verified". So that's what we're going to be hearing about constantly.
"Agreed" in the sense that this is informative, thanks.
I was quite surprised by this as well. Then again, I wasn't aware that "paid mods"--i.e. paid content on the Bethesda Mod Store--had actually gone away (since said mod store hadn't). I'm still locked from the last update (up until yesterday, it was probably safe for me to update everything and fix compatibility), and I already made the switch to Open Animation Replacer rather than updating DAR just because it does appear to be completely backwards compatible. So technically, I'm still on the version from before September of last year (1.6.3?). I was actually entertaining the thought of updating when I had free time over the Winter Holiday but...I suppose now it's waiting game time again.
In the meantime, Steam is freaking out about it. This is an argument in favor of the GOG version I suppose, if I actually had to run SSE through the Steam client, I'd be fucked.
The versions change but other things remain the same.
Never did the Dragonborn stuff on my replay from a couple months ago, but going through Apocrypha is super annoying anyway, so I regret nothing.
https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrimspecialedition/mods/106712?tab=description
So bonkers modlists for VR are now possible.
Hoping that's the last issue with rebuilding a mod list after accidently deleting everything so I can actually play and try out Fuse's free armor sets from patreon. They look good especially the Highlander and Sona sets.
So, I've got a couple mods that add Thalmor content, the biggest one being The Second Great War which causes a Thalmor invasion after the civil war questline is done. I intend to join the Thalmor side in that.
SO my question to you all is... what vanilla faction would make the most sense for a Thalmor agent to join? I know it's established lore that the Thalmor want the Stormcloaks to win the civil war, so it seems to me that I should join them and then stab them in the back, but that just doesn't feel right. The Stormcloaks would (in my mind anyway, I know in the game any race can join) never allow an elf into a position of power in their ranks while the Empire would. Despite this I am somewhat leaning towards joining the Stormcloaks. I'm probably just dumb and overthinking